It all started way back in 2000 when drummer Maz decided it was time to leave his current band
“Cobra”. Pete H, who had been a big fan of “Cobra” and developed a
friendship with the band, persuaded Maz to start
a new band together. Maz and Pete spent almost
the next 12 months auditioning members for the new band, trying out various
musicians but to no avail as no one fitted in with what both Maz and Pete wanted to achieve. Close to giving up it
was a reply to an advert in the local paper that would change everything as
Pete and Maz agreed to hold an audition for the
three musicians interested, Craig a Lead/Rhythm Guitarist, Peter ‘Railroad’
G a Rhythm/Lead Guitarist and Rod a Bass Guitarist. Both Maz and Pete, extremely happy with the audition,
offered the trio the chance to join and in January 2001 the new band took
its first steps into the wide world as “No Way Out” Mk1 was born.

The first gig of the newly formed Band was at an open
day for Hassocks Football Club and although only playing six songs they
went down extremely well, this was followed by a full gig at The Sussex
Arms in East Grinstead which went on to became a regular fixture on the gig
list until it was taken over by new management. More gigs followed and “No
Way Out” slowly picked up fans and venues including a couple of Thursdays
at Piries Wine Bar in Horsham, a small venue
where the band had to park in a multi-story car park, get shopping trolleys
and push the gear across a shopping centre to get there. Another early gig
saw the band play in The Pelham Buckle in Crawley where they were joined by
Fish from the band “Juicy Lucy” and for a few
of these early gigs the band was joined by former Gutbuckets Saxophone
player Lucy.

In 2002 after only a year, Rod stunned the rest of the
band by announcing he had to leave because as he was moving up to Lincoln,
so the hunt was on to find a replacement. In stepped an old friend of
Craig’s from his days with “Cry Wolf”, Dave, and Rick (now in the band “The Noodleheads”) to help out the
band by doing stand in duties on Bass. With the amount of gigs the band had
already got booked, Rick was unable to commit so Dave was asked to join the
band full time and he gladly accepted. With a new bass player “No Way Out”
Mk2 was ready to rock!

The band was now up to full strength once again, with
more gigs being booked in places like The Star in Lingfield,
which also saw the band perform at an open-air concert with other bands and
Radio Mercury supporting the event. At a gig in the Lingfield
Sports and Social Club the band decided to hire some people to record the
event and in true Spinal Tap style only about four people turned up! But
soon it was time to enter the recording studio to record the bands debut album. For four days the band recorded at Esselle Studios in Dyke Road, Brighton, Pete H was
suffering from glandular fever and poor Maz was
stuck in a tiny drum booth, despite this “First Offence” was finished with
Jo Clarke singing Backing Vocals. Craig wanted Jo to join full time but was
concerned about space on stage, unfortunately Jo and her husband John moved
to Wales shortly afterwards (although they do travel to see the band every
now and then, with Jo joining the band on stage to sing). The second album
“Love Is A Gamble” was recorded at 811 Studios in Cowfold,
which was recommended to the band by “The Midnight
Howlers” and much to the band’s delight had old
valve style equipment which gave a more ‘rock’ sound to the album. The
album was finished in seven days but it took about another year and a half
for the album cover to be designed!

In July 05 “No Way Out” where invited to participate in
a Charity Concert for Children In Need to be held at the beginning of
November that same year. Craig and Peter ‘Railroad’ G had an idea that they
would get as many friends, who could play an instrument and who had also at
some point worked with them, to ‘guest star’ with “No Way Out”. The night
itself was a success and led to one of the guests, Jason, to jokingly
remark that if they ever needed a keyboard player they could always call on
him. In June 06 the band was looking at expanding and considered adding a
keyboard player so Craig decided to take Jason up on his offer and asked
him along to few rehearsals. Everything went well and it seemed as though
Jason had been part of the band for ages so they asked him to join
fulltime. Of course Jason jumped at the opportunity (the band are still
waiting for him to get a “No Way Out” tattoo so they can change the name of
the band!) and “No Way Out” Mk3 was unleashed onto the unsuspecting world
at the end of August 06. With the band slowly settling in as a newly
expanded six piece, 2007 saw another small hiccup within the ranks. Maz had been suffering from a hernia for the last half
of 2006 and it was time for him to finally get it operated on at the end of
February. March 07 saw two ‘guest’ drummers fill in for Maz
whilst he recovered from his surgery in the shape of Paul (Craig’s former
drummer in “King Waller”) and Neil, whom Craig and Pete ‘Railroad’ G knew
from their work. For the next three months both Neil and Paul helped out on
drumming duties whilst Maz had to sit and watch
from the audience! It wasn’t until the end of May/beginning of June that
the band would be back together again.

The beginning of 2008 saw another major upheaval within
“No Way Out” starting with Pete H having a nasty fall and breaking his left
wrist in January. This was followed closely by Dave suffering from a
perforated eardrum at the beginning of February meaning he would have to
temporarily relinquish bass duties for at least three months until it
healed. To make matters worse Jason was involved in a motorcycle accident,
also at the beginning of February, and so he too was out of action for the
next two months with a broken right hand. To help with the situation “The Noodleheads” Rick was again
called upon, as well as two friends of the band, Nick and Mick, to fill in
on bass duties and the set was altered to accommodate the lack of a
keyboard. Suddenly at the end of February 08, out of the blue, Dave dropped
the bombshell that he was leaving “No Way Out” and the race was on to find
his permanent replacement. With Mick agreeing to continue to help out with
bass duties at our gigs, the band held auditions with a number of Bass
players but no one quite fitted in with the band. Jerry had been a fan of
the band since seeing them play at The Fountain in Chichester and it was
his wife Jan who suggested he contact them to audition. At the end of March
08, Jerry auditioned for the band, although it was a short audition it was
all the rest of the band needed to know that Jerry was the man to hire and
within a few days he was offered the job. With six weeks to get up to speed
and getting up to play one or two numbers at a couple of gigs, Jerry was
ready and “No Way Out” Mk4 burst forth at the end of May 08.

February 2011 saw another turn of events for the band
when Jerry decided to call it a day and announced to the shock of everyone
that he was hanging up his Bass with “No Way Out”. The race was once again
on for a replacement with Noodlehead Rick once
again stepping in to help out at gigs along with Hugh from “The Racket”. As
luck would have it, the planets aligned and Lords of Rock intervened so
that the band wouldn’t have to look too far for a new Bass player. Richie
who was both a fan and friend of the band had already mentioned, in a throw
away comment to Pete H, that should the need arise he’d be happy to step in
either as a temporary stand-in or even join up full time. Pete H was soon
on the phone to Richie and after a long meeting (okay a couple of pints in
Railroad’s Front Room aka The Old House At Home) Richie was onboard and “No
Way Out” Mk5 hit the road at the beginning of March 2011.

In March 2012 Maz shocked the
band and announced he had decided that after 30 years of drumming it was
time to hang up his sticks and retire. So the band put the feelers out and
held an audition with Maz happy to drum for a few
gigs whilst we chose his replacement. With a successful audition of 3
potential drummers and a long chat within the band, Gavin was asked if he
wanted to jump in at the deep end. Luckily for us he gladly accepted and
with a ceremonial hand over between Maz and Gavin
at The Crow's Nest. Sadly Gavin couldn't stay and after only 2 awesome
months left, so the race is once again on for a replacement drummer. As the
months past the band thought they had a suitable replacement but it wasn't
to be until one fateful day at the end of August 2012 when Maz decided that retirement wasn't for him and asked to
come back full time.

Now back together again "No Way Out" Mk5 go
from strength to strength, with a diary full of gigs (50+) and each one
nearly sold out, an ever expanding fan base, the first and second albums
selling well, work on the third about to kick off in earnest the band now
looks towards a long future of ROCK ahead....